The Cat's Pyjamas

by Healer Pomfrey

Please refer to the disclaimer, warnings and notes at the beginning of chapter 1!

11 - 'Gainst the wall of knowledge I

"Pangur," Hermione replied, staring at him in disbelief. "You're awake."

"Come on," Pangur said urgently. He slowly stood up and turned to the wardrobe to fetch his robes, which he hurriedly pulled over his pyjamas.

"Pangur, we need to..." Hermione protested, shocked. However, seeing that Pangur just left the room, she hurried behind him, gently steadying her friend's arm upon noticing that he swayed a little. "We're going to be in so much trouble," she insisted, trying to convince him to call one of the adults first.

"I don't care," Pangur replied. "I'd think to her, but I probably deleted my magic earlier, so I'll just have to go there. I don't want anything to happen to her."

To Pangur it seemed like an infinite time later that they finally reached the animal clinic. To his relief, Patrick was in the clinic and immediately came over when he heard them open the main door.

"Pangur," Patrick said as he eyed him, pleasantly surprised.

"Where is Goldie?" Pangur queried, heavily leaning onto Hermione's arm.

"Pangur," Patrick said sternly, reaching for Pangur's arm as he took in the boy's flushed face and exhausted expression. "Is my assumption correct that no one knows that you're here?"

"Yes sir. Pangur just only woke up from his coma, when I told him about Goldie. I'm sorry, sir," Hermione quickly informed the vet.

Patrick scooped Pangur up into his arms and carried him through the clinic, knowing that Goldie badly needed to see the boy. "Here you are," he said kindly as he released Pangur from his grip when they approached the horse.

"Goldie," Pangur said in a soft voice, gently petting the small horse's head. "I'm sorry that I couldn't come earlier, but I'm back now."

'I missed you so badly,' Goldie thought to him as she relaxed under his soft touch. For a few minutes, she communicated with Pangur, happily listening to the voice she had missed so much, before she finally began to slowly eat the food that Patrick had placed in front of her.

Pangur sighed in relief. "I'm sorry, sweetie, I need to go back now, but I promise I'll come to see you again as soon as I can."

"I'll take you back," Patrick offered and carried Pangur back to his room.

"Patrick, Mione," Pangur whispered, when the vet placed him on his bed and began to wave his wand over him, "please don't tell anyone that I went to see Goldie."

"We won't, as we don't want your grandmother to suffer a heart attack," Patrick reassured the boy, smirking. "However, if you set as much as a foot out of this bed, before your godparents or I tell you..."

"I won't," Pangur promised, feeling too exhausted and miserable to even think about doing anything. He gratefully emptied the phial that Patrick handed him and lay back, closing his eyes. 'Feels good,' he thought, sensing Hermione's cool hand on his arm as he drifted off to sleep.

猫のパジャマ

After another day of staying in his own room, Pangur was allowed to return to his dormitory, even if he could not attend classes for the whole week. During the morning classes, he remained in the common room studying Hermione's notes in order to catch up as fast as possible. The afternoons he mostly spent in the clinic helping Patrick to care for the animals.

When Goldie was released from the clinic, Pangur led her back to the herd. 'You should play Hippolo more frequently,' Goldie thought to him. 'That way I'd see you more often.'

"I'll see what I can do," Pangur replied, gently petting the horse's head.

From that time onwards, he decided to spend more time with her and joined her every day between lunch and the beginning of the afternoon classes. Sometimes even Hermione accompanied him, when she could resist the urge to head to the library.

'More Hippolo matches sound good,' Pangur mused. 'Maybe we could play against other schools or such.' In fact, he enjoyed Hippolo much more than Hoopitch, as it did not afford much magic. Whilst he often had to miss the Hoopitch matches because of his fragile condition, so far he had participated in every Hippolo match and had caught the Snitch to win every single one.

"Pangur, there aren't any other magical schools nearby," Patrick said thoughtfully and suggested, "We could fly to the Seals' farm on Saturday or Sunday if you have time. Maybe the Seals have an idea."

猫のパジャマ

The Seals immediately liked his idea, and Mr. Seal promised to set up his own Hippolo team. "I'm sure my customers will be happy to play against the students of the KFC. What about the teachers though?" he queried, glancing at Patrick. "Couldn't you have your own team? With three teams, we could hold a proper tournament every year that could either take place here or at the school," he suggested, causing Patrick to nod thoughtfully.

"Probably the school would be better, as it would be a great effort to have all students fly here. Your customers are more accustomed to fly over a distance. I will speak with my colleagues. You'll hear either from me or from Pangur," the vet promised.

猫のパジャマ

At first, Medusa was very sceptical because of the additional work load for Patrick if he had to prepare the horses for so many more matches and practices. However, Pangur readily offered to take over the task with just a little help from Patrick if necessary.

Finally, the teachers agreed to have their own team and decided to leave the complete organization of the tournament to Pangur.

"Are you certain that you have enough time besides your studies?" Minerva asked in concern. "I don't want you to overdo it."

"I won't," Pangur promised, giving his grandmother a reassuring smile. 'This is going to be so much fun,' he thought, happily.

猫のパジャマ

During the following months until the end of his fifth KFC year, Pangur was very busy catching up what he had missed during the time when he had been in the coma as well as organising the Hippolo tournament, which was going to take place during the next school year. Unfortunately, the more time passed, the more frequently he was pulled into visions.

It was usually on Saturday nights that Voldemort gathered his followers, and to Pangur's great annoyance, each time he asked if anyone had found Harry Potter, cursing the Death Eaters for their laziness and stupidity. 'Voldemort seems to become more and more agressive,' he thought one night, when he gratefully gulped down the anti cruciatus potion, which his godfather handed him. "Today he cursed so many of them, and only just because they didn't find me," he told Severus in a small voice. "Thank you so much, sir, for coming to help me so quickly."

"No problem, Pangur," Severus replied gently. "As soon as you're pulled into a vision, the spell that I have cast on you alerts me to the fact. Unfortunately, I can't help you apart from giving you potions; however, I suggest that you try to occlude your mind, whenever you feel well enough to do a certain amount of magic. It might help to block the visions."

From that time onwards, Pangur tried to occlude his mind every Saturday night before going to bed. In fact, Occlumency was not difficult for him, as he had already learned to occlude his mind when Severus had taught him Telepathy a few years ago. The only problem was that he could not always afford putting a lot of magic into the spell, depending on his condition. However, he realised in relief that he was able to block his visions at least every second Saturday. Unfortunately, a few months later, Voldemort began to become more active, even during the week.

It was during the last week of the school year, just when the fifth years were having their theoretical Transfiguration test, that Pangur was unexpectedly pulled into a vision. He suddenly found himself at an unknown place. 'Is that Diagon Alley?' he wondered, recalling that he had once visited the place together with his grandmother and godparents; however, he was not sure, and before he could follow the thought, Voldemort and a small group of Death Eaters entered one of the shops. To his surprise, he found himself in the role of a spectator this time and listened in shock, when Voldemort began to interrogate the wand maker.

"Oliviander, has Harry Potter come here to get his wand during the last year?" the evil wizard queried, standing in front of the shop owner in a threatening position.

"No sir," Oliviander replied firmly.

"Have you ever heard of his whereabouts?" Voldemort hissed, only waiting for the older wizard to deny, before he cast his favourite unforgivable spell and headed to the next shop.

Pangur unwillingly observed how Voldemort interrogated Madam Malkins and several other shopkeepers, cursing each of them upon realising that no one knew where to find Harry Potter. Finally, he gathered his Death Eaters around himself and hissed, "Apparently, Harry Potter is not in the magical world. From tomorrow onwards, we're going to attack the Muggles."

With that the scene vanished from Pangur's view, and he found himself back in the Transfiguration classroom. His grandmother was standing in front of him, and she and Hermione were observing him in apparent concern.

"Pangur, are you all right?" Hermione asked immediately.

However, before Pangur could even think of a reply, he felt his stomach revolt and got sick all over the table and his Transfiguration test. "Sorry," he mumbled, seeing that Minerva cleaned the mess with a flick of her wand. "He killed the wand maker and several other people in Diagon Alley," he whispered, causing his grandmother to look at him in shock. "I'm fine," Pangur added and tried to focus on the parchment on his desk.

"Are you sure that you're well enough to continue with the test?" Minerva inquired, worriedly.

"Yes," he reassured her, trying to occlude his mind against the pain in his scar as he continued to write, glad that Hermione had made Eddie, Adrian and him study a lot during the previous evening, so that the test was fairly easy for him.

'I just hope he won't decide to attack the Muggles just during my practical Potions test tomorrow afternoon,' he mused, when he returned to the common room later the same day after showing his godfather the memory of his vision.

However, he realised soon that Voldemort usually made his attacks at night. During the rest of the week, he had to witness how the Death Eaters attacked Muggle and Squib families every night.

"Pangur," Severus spoke up, when Pangur assisted in the Potions lab on Saturday afternoon, "your grandmother and I believe that it might be better for you to spend at least the first weeks of the summer holidays in my guest quarters instead of your own room, because I might be able to use Legilimency and help you suppress the visions if I'm nearby. Would that be adequate for you?"

"Of course," Pangur said, smiling at his godfather. "Thank you so much for offering." His face darkened considerably as he said, "I just hope he won't do anything tomorrow during our Hippolo match."

Severus smirked. "Don't worry; I'm going to catch the Snitch then."

"Ha ha, I know you'd like that," Pangur replied, grinning, "but I won't do you the favour to lose against the teachers' team."

On Sunday morning, there was no cloud in the sky, and it was a hot summer day, when the KFC students' team and the teachers' team mounted their horses and took into the air for their first match, which Pangur had set up as a test, considering that the Hippolo tournament was going to commence right after the beginning of the new school year. 'I just have to catch the Snitch before Severus does,' Pangur thought to Goldie, feverishly letting his eyes wander around the park.

To his relief, Voldemort seemed to be asleep after attacking a Squib family in the early morning hours; however, when he took into the air again after the five-minute break, which all the candy cane horses needed to eat some sugar after flying for a certain time, he noticed that not only Goldie, but also the other horses behaved strangely. 'It's as if they were cursed,' he thought, worriedly.

tbc...

A huge thanks to the kind readers, who fed my muse!